This a long story to review so I've decided to review it in parts
Parts 1-6 (The scary tense stuff): First a massive well done to Donald Tosh/Dennis spooner/the whole production team for making this at all, with Terry nations lack of scripts more outline, it's a miracle this worked/looked as great as it did. This 12 part epic can be very daunting/long winded to get through, even as a dalek fan I find it a struggle. But parts 1-6 are so enjoyable, exciting, scary and well written, it's easily the stronger half. There is of course dragging throughout (part 3). But its incredibly bleak and creepy for the Daleks. There's a great theme of "power" nearly every character here wants a form of it, from the most extreme such as Chen or less like the dr/Steven who want to stop this. I also really loved the background story/arcs building up, Marvic Chen is an incredible villian, he's incredibly dedicated, spending years to collect the core. He's so naive/cocky. He doesn't just want to have power/rule the Daleks, he thinks he deserves it. A perfect politician. He gets some great power play scenes here, such as when he and Zephon talk about their importance. Testing each other for who is really important to the Daleks. This comes brilliantly full circle as Chen makes them aware of his bragging, resulting in his death. I just loved the parallels between him and the Daleks. We also get Nick Courtney's first role as Bret, a great character determined to warn earth only to be backstabbed and killed by his manipulated sister Sara. It's an incredible arc and just adds to this society. Making the Daleks/Chen look far more scary as they are one step ahead, with the plan making horrific sense. We also get the first companion death, Katarina. It's a very shocking scene that just leaves you feeling cold and adds to the storys tension. Sadly it doesn't work as well is it thinks, we barely know her and shes not exactly a good character. Vicki would of been perfect here, imagine the drs/audiences horror to see Vicki die like that, someone so sweet who which we actually spent time with. Finally the music score, my absolute favourite classic score, it's so creepy/beautiful at the same time, adding another fear factor.
Rating: 4/5, 8/10.
Parts 1-6 (The scary tense stuff): First a massive well done to Donald Tosh/Dennis spooner/the whole production team for making this at all, with Terry nations lack of scripts more outline, it's a miracle this worked/looked as great as it did. This 12 part epic can be very daunting/long winded to get through, even as a dalek fan I find it a struggle. But parts 1-6 are so enjoyable, exciting, scary and well written, it's easily the stronger half. There is of course dragging throughout (part 3). But its incredibly bleak and creepy for the Daleks. There's a great theme of "power" nearly every character here wants a form of it, from the most extreme such as Chen or less like the dr/Steven who want to stop this. I also really loved the background story/arcs building up, Marvic Chen is an incredible villian, he's incredibly dedicated, spending years to collect the core. He's so naive/cocky. He doesn't just want to have power/rule the Daleks, he thinks he deserves it. A perfect politician. He gets some great power play scenes here, such as when he and Zephon talk about their importance. Testing each other for who is really important to the Daleks. This comes brilliantly full circle as Chen makes them aware of his bragging, resulting in his death. I just loved the parallels between him and the Daleks. We also get Nick Courtney's first role as Bret, a great character determined to warn earth only to be backstabbed and killed by his manipulated sister Sara. It's an incredible arc and just adds to this society. Making the Daleks/Chen look far more scary as they are one step ahead, with the plan making horrific sense. We also get the first companion death, Katarina. It's a very shocking scene that just leaves you feeling cold and adds to the storys tension. Sadly it doesn't work as well is it thinks, we barely know her and shes not exactly a good character. Vicki would of been perfect here, imagine the drs/audiences horror to see Vicki die like that, someone so sweet who which we actually spent time with. Finally the music score, my absolute favourite classic score, it's so creepy/beautiful at the same time, adding another fear factor.
Rating: 4/5, 8/10.